一名美国官员就一个香港委员会决定为保护大象销毁约28公吨没收的象牙发表评论。

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香港渔农自然护理署（Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department）保护稀有动植物咨询委员会（Endangered Species Advisory Committee）于1月23日一致决定销毁约28公吨没收的象牙，美国鱼类和野生动植物管理局（U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service）局长丹•阿什（Dan Ashe）对此表示赞赏。阿什说香港“与越来越多的政府一起坚决反对非法象牙贸易并表示决心终止大象盗猎危机”。

美国鱼类和野生生物管理局指出，非洲各地的大象遭到屠杀以满足全球贪得无厌的需求。许多努力保护大象的公园守护人员也遭到杀害。

阿什在鱼类和野生动植物管理局网站的一份声明中表示，“香港承诺销毁象牙一事，加上美国和中国最近的象牙销毁行动以及肯尼亚加蓬和菲律宾早些时候销毁象牙的工作，向偷猎者、走私者和消费者传递了一个有力的信息：决不容忍这条犯罪链上任何一个环节发生贩运野生生物的罪行。法国今年也将销毁其非法象牙，我们希望其他国家也采取同样的行动。”

阿什表示，整个非洲曾有数百万头大象。今天，非洲大陆估计只有不足40万头。阿什表示，“世界采取行动的时间日益紧迫。除非盗猎大象、犀牛和其他物种的活动得到制止，否则在未来几十年间我们很可能看到它们从野生世界中消失。”

阿什指出，“随着国际社会要求维护非洲大象未来生存的呼声日益高涨，香港今天采取的措施为加强国际社会的承诺迈出了重要的一步”。

上图是美国鱼类和野生生物管理局没收的象牙制品。

A U.S. official commends the decision by a Hong Kong committee to destroy approximately 28 metric tons of confiscated ivory as a means to aid elephant protection.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe commended the Endangered Species Advisory Committee of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department for its unanimous decision January 23 to destroy approximately 28 metric tons of confiscated ivory. Ashe said Hong Kong joins “a growing number of governments that are taking a strong stand against illegal ivory trade and demonstrating their commitment to end the elephant poaching crisis.”

Elephants are being slaughtered across Africa to meet an insatiable global demand for ivory, USFWS says. Scores of the park rangers who work to protect them have also been killed.

“Hong Kong’s commitment to destroy its ivory, coupled with the recent ivory destruction events in the United States and China as well as earlier destructions in Kenya, Gabon and the Philippines, send a powerful message to poachers, traffickers and consumers that wildlife crime will not be tolerated at any point along the crime chain,” Ashe said in a statement on the USFWS website. “France will also destroy its illegal elephant ivory this year, and we hope that other nations will follow suit.”

Elephants once numbered in the millions throughout Africa, Ashe said. Today, there are estimated to be fewer than 400,000 across the continent, he added. “Time is growing short for the world to act,” Ashe said. “Unless the poaching of elephants, rhinos and other species is halted, we will likely see them disappear from the wild in the next several decades.”

The action by Hong Kong “is a critical step that reinforces the growing commitment of the international community to ensure the future survival of the African elephant,” Ashe said.

Above, illegal ivory objects confiscated by USFWS.